Notes of a Résumé Writer – Revamp to emerge a competitive candidate

Dear Sam: I am 21 years old and I have 3 years of experience in administrative assistant and customer service roles. It seems like the opportunities in my field are slowly dwindling, so I know I need to really sell myself in my résumé; my problem is that I do not know how. About a year ago, I received some money due to a family tragedy, so when my previous employer laid me off due to cutbacks, I decided to use that time to get my family back together. Now, I am ready to get back in the game. As a single mother with a toddler and one on the way, I really need a job badly. Can you point me in the right direction? – Rebecca

Dear Rebecca: Thank you for submitting your résumé for my “Notes of a Résumé Writer” series; I am pleased to be able to provide some guidance to help you create an interview-generating job search tool. Let’s touch on a few key areas of your résumé which should be addressed:

Résumé Length & Design
As an entry-level candidate with just a few years of experience, you should have a one-page résumé. Your résumé currently spills onto two pages, due to the large font size and wide margins. As an administrative specialist claiming technical proficiency, I’d like to see a more aesthetically pleasing design showcasing your Microsoft Word skills and ability to produce a well-designed document. Look at some books or examples on my website for ideas of different designs; don’t use templates in Word if at all possible, as many other candidates will have used those too. For your field, you should choose a conservative look that is well organized and very pleasing to the eye.

Objective & Qualifications Summary
Your objective statement is taking up important space at the top of page one, and does not tell the hiring manager anything about what you can offer. I suggest replacing this with a summary which highlights your key skills and attributes. In this summary, you may want to talk about the high-volume, customer-centric environments in which you have worked. You could also note your technical skills so they are not hidden within the professional experience section. Use this section to “sell” why the hiring manager should interview (and hire) you! See the example I have presented for an idea of how this section could be designed and written by clicking here.

Professional Experience
An effective presentation of one’s experience and accomplishments typically comes in the form of a paragraph overview of his/her responsibilities followed by bulleted achievements. In your case, you presented a paragraph of your job description, and while providing this information is important (to an extent), what you really want to focus the reader’s attention on is where you truly contributed value. From reading your résumé, I’d imagine you would have some additional highlights to present. Think about things you achieved while on the job. Did you help with any special projects? Did you receive customer commendations? Did you collaborate well with a customer service team? Did you singlehandedly manage administrative functions for a busy office? All of these things are areas in which you could present a more achievement-oriented statement to validate your claims in the summary and predict the contributions you could provide to your next employer.

Next, remove the months of employment you have listed. You only need present the years you were employed, especially important in your case as by presenting the months of employment it is evident you haven’t worked in almost a year. Lastly, remove your hourly compensation from your résumé, as this should only be provided when a salary history is requested.

Education
It is assumed you have a high school diploma, so typically I would advise not to list that on your résumé. In your case, however, as you received multiple academic honors, I would suggest pulling those items out and including them in your qualifications summary. You could say something like, “Graduated from high school in the top 10% of class, receiving numerous awards including Honor Roll, Super Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance, and Student of the Year.” I would then omit an education section (as you have stated you are a graduate in your qualifications summary) and relocate your community involvement work to its own section to highlight your participation in the Kids Voting program.

I am confident if you revamp your résumé, based on my recommendations, you will emerge as a highly competitive candidate. You have a strong background for an entry-level candidate; it just needs to be presented a little more strategically than you have done thus far. I truly wish you great success in your search and with your newest little one on the way.

To view page 1 of Rebecca’s critiqued résumé click here.
To view a well-written example of a qualifications summary for Rebecca click here.

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Samantha Nolan is a certified professional résumé writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service résumé writing firm. Reach Samantha at dearsam@ladybug-design.com, www.ladybug-design.com, or 1‑888-9-LADYBUG (1-888-952-3928).

Don’t assume people can “see” your value…show them

Candidate’s Background:
Sandy had an extensive human resources background, yet it was hidden in a plethora of bullet points in a lengthy and somewhat redundant résumé. She was also seeking a management-level position and was finding the fact that she did not have a college degree hindered her search. She did not know how to position her experience to overcome the potential disqualifier.

Résumé Makeover Strategies:
When reviewing Sandy’s original résumé, I found myself confused about the environment in which she worked. Through exploration of her positions during our consultation, I found her experience was vastly underrepresented in her résumé, doing little to position her at the appropriate level. Instead of presenting where she had contributed significant value to her employers, her résumé focused on her job duties, and in doing so undervalued her candidacy considerably.

Revamping the format of her résumé to include a fully developed qualifications summary was pivotal in positioning Sandy at the management level. Doing so also allowed for presentation of her core skills in an at-a-glance format that facilitated ease of readability. The summary opened with a strategically positioned headline which not only positioned her immediately as a human resources manager, but also allowed for communication of a very important certification she was pursuing—something that would be key in overcoming the lack of a degree.

In the professional experience section of the new résumé, responsibilities are clearly distinguished from achievements through selective formatting. Experience is also quantified, something missing completely from her original résumé, to better reflect the level of accountability she held. Sandy’s original résumé was redundant in presentation, providing all information from her most recent role in 12 bullet points. On her new résumé, the same experience is described in a paragraph and bullet point format, this time with only 4 bullets; despite looking much “weightier” on the page, I actually only added about 40 words to the section. The key to the effectiveness of each position in the professional experience section is to provide a succinct yet relevant review of the responsibilities, while focusing the reader’s attention and eyes on the achievements appearing in bullets, with results of each action bolded for emphasis. Almost 60% of the content in the first section is reserved for communication of achievements versus responsibilities.

On page two of Sandy’s résumé (not shown), I removed focus from an education section, which lacked a degree, by presenting a certifications section. This section highlights the upcoming receipt of a highly coveted credential in the human resources industry, in addition to some other certifications she possesses, and eliminates the hiring manager seeing an education section with the expectation of a degree. Utilizing this section omission strategy is sometimes all candidates need to do to remove focus on the fact they do not possess a required qualification.

Overall, Sandy’s new résumé better reflects her qualifications and contributions while minimizing the impact of a potentially disqualifying factor, positioning her to achieve the management-level job offers she seeks.

Final Thoughts:
On receipt of her new résumé, Sandy emailed, “You were able to express on paper what I knew in my head, and partly assumed others would also know. Thank you for your time and patience; it turned out great!” As with many of my clients, they need someone else to help them identify their core strengths as they relate to their current career objective. Many candidates get caught in the trap of thinking others will “see” the value in their experience, while not realizing with a 7- to 10-second screening process, there is little, if any, time to decipher why someone is qualified. Instead, candidates need to “show” they are qualified for the job, engage the reader with a well-designed document, and communicate qualifications in achievement-focused language. Whether seeking out a professional or a peer, take the time to have someone you trust review your résumé to ensure it is showcasing your qualifications to their fullest, while minimizing the impact of potential disqualifiers. Now, go get ‘em!

To view AFTER résumé click here

To view BEFORE résumé click here

Transition Focus from Family-Owned to Value-Added

Dear Sam: I am seeking a job as an Accounting/Operations Manager. Half of my experience (aside from education) comes from running a family-owned (i.e., my husband is the President) business. I've been meeting with recruiters and submitting my résumé for consideration online for certain opportunities, without much luck. Could working for a family business affect my ability to get a job? How do I overcome this challenge? - Elena

Dear Elena: Absolutely, often presenting experience with a family business is immediately discredited as it is assumed you did not have to do too much to get the job nor keep it. It is so unfortunate that this can be the assumption, or that other inaccurate assumptions are made, because having worked for a family-owned business―growing up―and now as a business owner myself, I know how hard you must have worked and the value you gained in being given the opportunity to wear multiple hats during your tenure.

To overcome this, you need to present your experience in the same way as you would any other professional experience. If it is difficult to hide the fact that this is a family business (i.e., if the business has your last name in it), then I would pull out highlights of your career and place them in their own section before presenting the employer’s name, your title, and the remainder of your professional experience section. If the company name will not immediately be seen as a family business, then you could present a more traditional reverse-chronological résumé. The point would be not to showcase that you worked for a family business, so as to avoid the reader discounting the experience.

I mentioned presenting this experience in the same manner as any other professional position, as I see a lot of résumés from candidates who really dilute their experience which occurred in a family business. Another fault I see often is candidates who try to communicate too much about the diversity of their experiences, positioning themselves as a jack of all trades and a master of none. Just be careful to present select aspects of your background (i.e., those operations- and accounting-related) that are going to market you well for your current career objective. Best of luck to you!

Dear Sam: I read your column every week and need some assistance. I have had to leave a position involuntarily and I am not sure how to handle this in my résumé as well as the interview. I have 30+ years of professional experience, so you can imagine that this came as a shock. I am a self-starter, motivated to do a good job, and educated. Everyone who knows me is in shock. So, I am on a new path for a career change and looking faithfully every day for a new opportunity! I need some suggestions on how to handle this. – LK

Dear LK: I'm sorry to hear that you were let go from your position. As you haven't had to look for a job in some time, I am sure this is a difficult situation. Let's first address the résumé. There is no reason to include the reason for leaving a position on a résumé, so really that is not a concern. You can, however, utilize certain strategies within your résumé to curb some of the negativity hiring managers may feel when they hear that you were let go involuntarily.

As you have 30+ years of experience, I am assuming that you had many good performance evaluations. If so, pull out quotes from some of them to include at the top of your résumé. This will be great reinforcement when you tell the hiring manager that your separation came as a shock. If you don't have access to these, try to have a former peer or supervisor write a recommendation letter from which you can pull out quotes and also present at the interview. If you still have a good relationship with your former manager, you could also ask for a letter from him/her attesting to your performance, only if you feel doing so would result in a positive reference.

Additionally, be sure that you focus your résumé on your past accomplishments; doing so will diminish the impact of an assumption that you were let go for performance reasons. Also, include the promotions you have had over your tenure to show that you were rewarded for a job well done.

Next, you will need to formulate a response for the inevitable "Why did you leave your last employer?" question. First, try to put aside your hurt feelings, as hard as that can be at a time like this, as it is crucial that you not portray any sort of anger or assignment of blame during an interview. Instead, prepare a confident and honest response to the question, ending on a positive note focusing on what the experience taught you. Perhaps this could be related to affording you the opportunity to assess what you want to do at this juncture in your career, and seek a position where you are a match for the organization, its culture, and your shared goals. All the best.

Dear Sam: I am in a quandary and need some advice. I have more than 15 years of experience in the human resources arena, look at hundreds of résumés each week, and can't seem to create an effective résumé marketing MY skills! As evaluating the effectiveness of a résumé is part of my daily job, I find it frustrating and mildly amusing that I can't seem to write my own. Also, as human resources people are going to be looking at my résumé, I'm finding it difficult to figure out what to tell them that they don't already know. How should I go about developing an effective résumé as a seasoned HR manager? – Sonya

Dear Sonya: Don't feel bad; I have heard the same comments time and time again from the majority of my clients in the human resources field. Perhaps, as you know so much about résumé writing and are trained to have a critical eye when reviewing résumé content, it is difficult to have the objectivity you need when creating your own masterpiece! In any case, let’s go through some ways to create an effective résumé when you are an HR professional.

As an experienced HR manager, you likely have exposure to all generalist areas. Be sure that you use your qualifications summary to highlight the breadth of your knowledge. I find that using a paragraph summary of your most notable achievements and experiences, followed by a bulleted list of noun phrases exploring your generalist involvement, often works best for seasoned HR professionals. This strategy allows you to focus on the factors in your background that differentiate you from the competition, while still incorporating all of the appropriate keywords.

Next, be sure to highlight your professional affiliations and/or certifications. As you know, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the leading professional organization for the industry, and highlighting membership reinforces your commitment to continued professional development. If you do have any of their certifications, such as the Professional in Human Resources (PHR), Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), or Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR), be sure they are highlighted prominently, even adding the credentials after your name at the top of your résumé. These coveted certifications play a key role in differentiating you from other highly qualified candidates.

Next, showcase your accomplishments, adding quantifiers to demonstrate the level you have achieved within your career. There is a big difference between being an HR Manager of a small company and being one for a 5,000-employee organization with multiple sites and a union presence. If the quantifiers work for you, be sure you leverage these to further differentiate yourself from others. I can't stress enough how the accomplishments section will play a key role in your evaluation, so take some time to review what you have done that was over and above your general responsibilities as an HR Manager.

As you noted, the reader of your résumé likely performs the same or similar functions to what you have done in the past. Having said that, you certainly don't need to go into extreme detail about everything you have ever done within the generalist arena. Certainly make a note pertaining to the areas that you have managed, but only go into detail when the efforts in a specific area were out of the normal scope. For example, you wouldn't need to tell the hiring manager that recruiting entailed placing ads, screening résumés, reviewing competencies, and interviewing candidates, as they are all too familiar with the functions entailed within such a role. However, if the recruiting you performed involved utilizing numerous channels, including job fairs, temporary agencies, and recruiters, then you would likely want to note this extensive level of involvement within the arena.

Lastly, when you have developed your résumé, it might be helpful to have a peer or friend read it over. You are going to be more critical than most when it comes to finalizing your résumé, and you don't want that to hinder getting your résumé out there working for you.